Why we take our own member photos
coworking member photos
Lots of coworking spaces have member walls. Places where you can see the beautiful and colorful combination of the people in your coworking community all in one place. Member walls are useful ("who was I just talking to in the kitchen? I forget their name already!"), and they are a beautiful addition to your space.We've been doing one simple thing for as long as we've been around that has really made our member wall special: we take all of the photos here in-house. Sure, it would be easier to let our members upload their favorite picture of themselves and have us print it for them. But easier doesn't mean better. We wanted to share a few reasons why we snap the photos around here and why we think it's important:
Quite simply, we ensure we have photos of our members that look like our members. How many Facebook friends do you have whose profile photo is of their dog? Or a mountain? Or their kids? We're all multi-dimensional people, but if you forgot what the name of the person you just talked to over lunch was, you don't want to try and figure it out by looking at a photo of their dog, right? When we take the photos we can be sure that all of our members' photos actually look like them.
It is an opportunity to connect. Not everyone loves getting their photo taken. And that's OK. But for a minute or two when you are working together to snap a photo, you have an opportunity to get to know one another in a different plane. You can tell when a member is having a great day. Or when they're having not their best day. And you can use the input you are getting from them on a subtle level to help you get to know them just a little bit better.
Picture Day. As your members continue to be a part of your coworking community, they change. New hair styles, a fresh pair of glasses, a beard that is there one year and gone the next. Regularly offering up an opportunity to snap a fresh photo means that your members get a fresh photo of themselves, AND it means you have an opportunity to talk about the changes since the last photo. I know I'm biased, but I can tell you confidently that our members keep getting better looking as we get older. Taking the opportunity to snap a fresh member photo can also mean that your members get a new photo of themselves that they love and can share in other places. It's a win for everyone.
Member Photo outtakes are pretty great too.
So if you are getting a coworking community up and running, consider taking the somewhat more complicated path and snap your photos in-house. We promise it's worth your while.